Clement no stranger to Grand Slam stakes

MIAMI - Trainer Christophe Clement has won Calder's La Prevoyante Handicap four times and the W.L. McKnight Handicap once. He will attempt to add to those totals on next weekend's Grand Slam II program. The trainer will send out Summer Solstice and perhaps stablemate Step With Style in the Grade 2 La Prevoyante and Honor Glide in the Grade 2 McKnight.

"Winning the fifth one might be a bit difficult," Clement said when reminded he had won four previous editions of the 1 1/2-mile La Prevoyante. "Summer Solstice will definitely run. She won her first start in this country at Gulfstream, didn't race again until finishing sixth in the Long Island Handicap last month, and may not have been 100 percent fit for the race. So I'll give her another chance."

Clement won his first La Prevoyante in 1992 with Sardaniya, came back three years later to capture the race with Trampoli, then won back-to-back editions in 1998 and 1999 with Coretta. His uncoupled entry of Innuendo and Orange Sunset finished second and third behind Prospectress in last year's renewal.

Honor Glide will try to rebound off a fourth-place finish in Keenland's Sycamore Breeders' Cup on Oct. 7 and should be among the favorites in the 12-furlong McKnight. In his previous start he won Woodbine's Grade 2 Niagara Breeders Cup Handicap.

"He didn't get a great trip in the Sycamore," Clement said. "He was wide and too close to the lead from the outset. I prefer him to be stalking the pace. I freshened him up after the race, just jogged him 30 days at Payson [Park], and he's doing very well right now. It seems to do everyone good. I know if I were a horse I'd be happier at Payson than anywhere else."

Among Honor Glide's competition in the McKnight will be the promising but lightly raced 3-year-old Deeliteful Irving, who comes off a late-striding fourth-place finish behind Mr. Pleasentfar in the Grade 2 Red Smith Handicap. Mr. Pleasentfar will be among the favorites for the McKnight.

"He's doing excellent," said Cindy Hutter, assistant to Deeliteful Irving's trainer, Todd Pletcher, at Gulfstream Park on Friday. "As good as we could hope for right now. He'll have one more work before the race over the main track here on Sunday."

Hennig likes Gold Mover's chances

Trainer Mark Hennig was fighting off the after effects of a losing battle with some fire ants at his Gulfstream headquarters on Friday morning but was upbeat about the chances of Gold Mover in the $100,000 Chaposa Springs Handicap, one of four stakes on next Saturday's Grand Slam II card.

"I feel like she might have tailed off near the end of the spring after we tried to stretch her out in the Ashland, a race in which she wound up getting a horrible trip," said Hennig. "We gave her some time and I've been very pleased with her efforts since she bounced back. And she always seems to do well once she gets to Florida."

Gold Mover won a pair of stakes at Gulfstream last winter and also finished second in the Grade 2 Davona Dale. She has captured one of four starts since her return, a 2 1/2-length decision over Dat You Miz Blue in Belmont's Floral Park Handicap.

Hennig's other female handicap star, Raging Fever, is also back on top of her game following a layoff and will likely return to action next month in Gulfstream's First Lady Handicap. A multiple Grade 1 stakes winner, she returned from a 7 1/2-month layoff to win Aqueduct's Garland of Roses Handicap earlier this month.

"She took the summer off because of an injury to the growth plate in her stifle," said Hennig. "I was very pleased with her performance in the Garland of Roses. She is a lot more settled now mentally than as a 2-year-old, and she'll have plenty of time to recuperate from that effort before the First Lady, which isn't until Jan. 18."

o Forest Heiress and Red Bullet topped Friday's work tab at Gulfstream. Forest Heiress, once beaten in five starts and an easy winner of the Grade 3 Valley Stream Stakes in her 2-year-old finale, breezed an easy five furlongs in 1:02.20,while Red Bullet went a half in 48.20 seconds as he prepares for his 2002 debut in the Grade 3 Skip Away Handicap on Jan. 12.